all of the above indicates that my grandmother’s Allah is labor. labor of the house, of the kitchen, of agriculture, of my grandfather’s heating stove shop; is raising her children and grandchildren; is the dizzying pastries, is eggs fresh from chicken and quails. my grandmother was the laborer who brought O into life. her hands, fingers, knuckles, nails, feet, legs, joints, nose, ears, lips, cheeks, and the rest of her flesh, hair, and bones. many forms, yes. love is never immaterial. O is labor: All at once.

e. irem az’ The Blond Daisy is a booklet composed of two multi-section poems, including the eponymous poem, about irem’s late grandmother, Zinet Tosun, and her Allah, at once universally boundless and simultaneously present in diurnal labor; and “perhaps it all started with,” which resurfaces smothering intergenerational trauma, zeroing in on domestic thresholds as simultaneously a seal but also potential escape route.

Hear irem read an excerpt from The Blond Daisy.

The acrylic cover painting is by Seçil Koman, author-artist of “The Endless Loop in My Mind,” (Bored Wolves, 2022).